Mistakes at Work: how to avoid them & how to fix them

While in school, I often heard that the big difference between medical school and law school was that no one’s life was at stake. Technically true. While no mistake we make as attorneys will cost someone their life (excluding criminal defense lawyers—no pressure), the fact is that big mistakes still can impact a client’s life in big ways. We’re entrusted to handle sensitive, consequential matters that may not be life and death, but will often affect the quality of life for that client. Unfortunately, we’re human and mistakes will happen.

Part of growing into your job means learning how to independently manage all the required steps in your work so that you avoid mistakes, instead of depending on a supervisor to catch all possible missteps. One great way to ensure you’re on the right track is to create checklists when you’re new to a practice area. Checklists work for both transactional work and litigation. I think they’re crucial for both areas, but especially litigation.

I’ll always remember when I was interning in criminal court and a state’s attorney put on her case in a quickie bench trial. She questioned the witness and rested her case, all the while the criminal defense lawyer sat silently in glee. As soon as she closed, the defense asked for a dismissal because the state’s attorney forgot to have the witness identify that defendant! A basic but absolute step in a criminal case! The judge had to dismiss. It wasn’t life or death, but certainly this had big, big impact on everyone. Imagine instead how easily you could avoid a mistake like this with checklists that remind you of all the steps you need to take. Again, some new attorneys play it too cool like they don’t need this type of help, but I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to my career.

Attorneys are also good at working down to the wire—I know I’ve turned in something right at the due date. I always say that I just work better under pressure, which may be true, but it’s a bad habit. Waiting until the last minute only furthers procrastination, and what if an emergency happens? Or you get sick? There’s no need to add that kind of stress in your life. Instead, giving yourself smaller deadlines and incentives to get the job done sooner can help you avoid the Big Mistake of missed deadlines.

Finally, what do you do when seriously mess up? In a panicked state we may try to cover up what happened or fix it without getting a higher ups input, but that’s the wrong way to go. A big part of building your executive presence is owning up to mistakes, rather than deflecting. Even if it means getting yelled at by a Partner—it’ll be better in the long run if you admit when something wrong has happened. But it’s not enough to say, oops I just messed up. Rather, you should also come with possible solutions to fix your mistake. This will not only make you seem honest but also resourceful.

Then the most important last step is to determine what went wrong and what you can do to ensure it never happens again because as a young professional, it’s impossible to never make a mistake, but you should strive to never make the same mistake twice.